James Doohan

James Montgomery Doohan, LVO (/ˈduːən/DOO-ən; March 3, 1920 – July 20, 2005) was a Canadian actor and voice actor best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series Star Trek. Doohan's characterization of the Scottish Chief Engineer of the Starship Enterprise was one of the most recognizable elements in the Star Trek franchise, and inspired many fans to pursue careers in engineering and other technical fields.[1] He also made contributions behind the scenes, such as the initial development of the Klingon and Vulcan languages.

Prior to Star Trek, Doohan served in the Canadian military with the 14th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. He also served as a pilot. He saw combat in Europe during World War II, including the D-Day invasion of Normandy, in which he was wounded, apparently by friendly fire.[2] After the war, he had extensive experience performing in radio and television, which led to his role as Scotty. Following the cancellation of the original Star Trek series, Doohan had limited success in finding other roles; he returned to play the character in the animated and film continuations of the series, and made frequent appearances at Star Trek conventions.

At the beginning of the Second World War, Doohan joined the Royal Canadian Artillery and was a member of the 14th (Midland) Field Battery, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division.[10] He was commissioned a lieutenant in the 14th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. He was sent to England in 1940 for training. He first saw combat landing at Juno Beach on D-Day. Shooting two snipers, Doohan led his men to higher ground through a field of anti-tank mines, where they took defensive positions for the night. Crossing between command posts at 11:30 that night, Doohan was hit by six rounds fired from a Bren Gun by a nervous Canadian sentry:[2] four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother.[7] His right middle finger had to be amputated, something he would conceal on-screen during most of his career as an actor.[11]

Although he was never actually a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Doohan was once labelled the "craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Force". In the late spring of 1945, on Salisbury Plain north of RAF Andover, he slalomed a plane between telegraph poles "to prove it could be done"—earning himself a serious reprimand. (Various accounts cite the plane as a Hurricane or a jet trainer; however, it was a Mark IV Auster.)[15][16]

After the war, Doohan moved to London, Ontario for further technical education. After hearing a radio drama that he knew he could do better, he recorded his voice at the local radio station, and learned about a drama school in Toronto. There he won a two-year scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City,[18] where his classmates included Leslie Nielsen, Tony Randall and Richard Boone.

In 1946, he had several roles for CBC radio,[19] starting January 12. For several years, he shuttled between Toronto and New York as work demanded. He estimated he performed in over 4,000 radio programs and 450 television programs during this period,[20] and earned a reputation for versatility.[21]

In the mid-1950s, he appeared as forest ranger Timber Tom (the northern counterpart of Buffalo Bob) in the Canadian version of Howdy Doody. Coincidentally, fellow Star Trek cast member William Shatner appeared simultaneously as Ranger Bill in the American version. Doohan and Shatner both appeared on the 1950s Canadian science fiction series Space Command.[19] Doohan also appeared in several episodes of Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans in 1957-58.

Doohan developed a talent for accents as a child.[16] Auditioning for the role of chief engineer of the USS Enterprise, Doohan did several different accents. Producer Gene Roddenberry asked which he preferred, and Doohan replied, "If you want an engineer, in my experience the best engineers are Scotsmen."[23] He chose the name "Montgomery Scott" after his grandfather.[23] In later years, Doohan reenacted the casting process at Star Trek conventions, demonstrating a variety of possible voices and characters.[23]

Doohan returned to the role of Scotty in the early 1970s for Star Trek: The Animated Series. Walter Koenig (navigator Pavel Chekov) was not hired for this series due to budget limitations, so Doohan voiced a replacement character: alien navigator Arex. He also voiced most guest male roles, including that of Robert April, the first captain of the Enterprise and around 50 other roles, voicing as many as seven different characters in a single episode.[25][26]

Doohan hoped that Star Trek would benefit his acting career.[16] After the series ended, however, he found himself typecast and had a hard time getting other roles. After his dentist reminded him he would "always be Scotty", he supported his family with income from personal appearances.[27] Unlike some other members of the cast, Doohan relished meeting fans and was always ready to entertain with a story or a song.

Most of the roles Doohan subsequently played made at least oblique references to his Trek fame and engineering reputation. He was Commander Canarvin in the short-lived Saturday morning live-action kids' show Jason of Star Command, and had a cameo in the made-for-TV movie Knight Rider 2000 as "Jimmy Doohan, the guy who played Scotty on Star Trek". On the television series Homeboys in Outer Space, he was Pippen, a pun on Scotty and basketball star Scottie Pippen. He played himself in an episode of The Ben Stiller Show. He played Damon Warwick, father of James Warwick, on the daytime soap operaThe Bold and the Beautiful.[28] After learning about cold fusion from technical journals in 1989, he narrated the video "Cold Fusion: Fire from Water", about the physics behind cold fusion.[18]

When the Star Trek franchise was revived, Doohan reprised his role of Scotty in seven Star Trek films and made a guest appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation's 130th episode, "Relics". Many of Doohan's film appearances centred on the role of Scotty, such as a cameo in National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, where he plays a policeman doing repair work who tells his superior officer "I am giving it all she has got, Captain!" in the same accent he used in Star Trek. However, he refused to contribute to the Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" or allow his image to be used in it, and was "replaced" in the episode by the created character "Welshie" who was ultimately given the redshirt treatment.

Although he continued to work with William Shatner in the Star Trek films, Doohan did not get along well with him and was once quoted as saying, "I like Captain Kirk, but I sure don't like Bill."[27] He was the only former Star Trek co-star to decline to be interviewed by Shatner for Shatner's first Star Trek: Memories book about the show, nor did he consent to do so for Shatner's follow-up book, Star Trek: Movie Memories, though Shatner mentioned in the latter that the icy relationship between the two started to thaw when both men were working on Star Trek Generations in 1993-94.[29] At Doohan's final August 2004 convention appearance, Doohan and Shatner appeared to have mended their relationship.[30]

Doohan's final role was that of Clive Chives in the British comedy film The Duke (1999).

Many fans told Doohan over the years that it was he who inspired them to choose engineering as a profession. AstronautNeil Armstrong, an engineer before he participated in NASA's Apollo program, personally told Doohan on stage at Doohan's last public appearance in 2004, "From one old engineer to another, thanks, mate."[31]

In an interview for the first Trekkies film, Doohan related the story of a young fan who was contemplating suicide. Doohan says that he convinced her to attend his next convention appearance, and later learned that his encouragement and kind words had not only saved her life, but inspired her to go back to school and become an electronics engineer.[32]

Doohan was married three times and had seven children, four of them—Larkin, Deirdre, twins Christopher and Montgomery born 1959—with his first wife Janet Young, whom he divorced in 1964. His marriage to Anita Yagel in 1967-72 produced no children. In early 1974, he was introduced to 17-year-old fan Wende Braunberger at a theatre performance[citation needed]. They were married that same year, when they were 54 and 18, on October 12, 1974. Star Trek actor William Campbell served as best man.[33] Doohan and Braunberger had three children: Eric, Thomas, and Sarah in April 2000, around his 80th birthday.[34][35] In his later years, Doohan suffered a multitude of health problems partially from his lifestyle, which included prodigious alcohol consumption, and partially from injuries sustained during World War II. These included diabetes, liver cirrhosis, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, and hearing loss. In July 2004, he announced that he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease[36] and would be withdrawing from public life.

On July 20, 2005, at 5:30 in the morning, Doohan died at his home in Redmond, Washington due to complications of pulmonary fibrosis, which was believed to be from exposure to noxious substances during World War II.

A portion of his ashes, ¼ ounce (7 grams), was scheduled the following fall for a memorial flight to space with 308 others, including Project Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper.[40][41] Launch on the SpaceLoft XL rocket was delayed to April 28, 2007, when the rocket briefly entered outer space in a four-minute suborbital flight before parachuting to earth, as planned, with the ashes still inside.[42] The ashes were subsequently launched on a Falcon 1 rocket, on August 3, 2008, into what was intended to be a low Earth orbit; however, the rocket failed two minutes after launch.[43] The rest of Doohan's ashes were scattered over Puget Sound in Washington.[44][45] On May 22, 2012, a small urn containing some of Doohan's remains in ash form was flown into space aboard the Falcon 9 rocket as part of COTS Demo Flight 2.[46]

Scotty's exploits as the Enterprise's redoubtable chief engineer inspired many students to pursue careers in engineering. Because of this, the Milwaukee School of Engineering presented Doohan with an honorary degree in engineering.[47] Doohan was immortalized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 31, 2004. Despite his ill health, he was present at the ceremony, which was his final public appearance.[48]

Montgomery Scott was claimed by Linlithgow, Scotland in 2007 by a commemorative plaque from the West Lothian Council for Doohan's importance.[49] His birthplace is also attributed to Aberdeen[50] where Doohan learned the accent,[51] or Elgin. Scotty's accent chosen by Doohan implies most formative years spent at or near Edinburgh, also per possible original script notes.[52]